What Control Engineers Should Know About Industry 4.0

An application viewpoint: Steelmaking 

An entry point to understanding the intersection of Industry 4.0 and control is to focus on an industry and different applications within it. We chose the metals industry for several reasons:  

• First, the steelmaking process is made up of consecutive processing steps that are similar across the globe.  

• Second, while the processing steps are continuous, they are sequenced discretely, resulting in a variety of operating practices.  

• Third, a large number of resources and amount of energy is required during the production stages. As a result, sophisticated process optimization and improvement schemes are important and financially worthwhile. 

Figure 2 shows the standard steps in a steelmaking process: In the melt shop, scrap metal or iron ore is melted in a furnace and various chemicals are added before the melted material is cast continuously. Slabs of metal are then formed into long sheets of metal in a hot rolling mill. The metal sheets are rolled out further in a profile or cold rolling mill. The surface of the sheets is further treated chemically and mechanically before storing them in a warehouse for further use in cars, ships, or household appliances. Because of the large and precise amounts of energy required, the stages of the steelmaking process require integration with the electricity grid.